The Writing of Innocence

<p><b>An original reading of Blanchot's thought with far-reaching philosophical and literary implications.</b></p><p><i>The Writing of Innocence</i> explores the topic of innocence and the peculiar relationship to Christianity in the writing of Maurice Blanchot. Its starting point is that innocence is not a condition relegated to a mythical past but rather one resulting from the construction of the subject in and through language. Hence we don't lose innocence; instead we are lost by innocence. It is an excess not a lack. This inverted notion of innocence raises new ethical and political issues that Aïcha Liviana Messina unfolds through vigorous re-readings of a series of biblical motifs including law grace and apocalypse. The closing chapter turns to the convergences and divergences between Jean-Luc Nancy's and Blanchot's understandings of the deconstruction of Christianity. With a foreword by philosopher Serge Margel <i>The Writing of Innocence</i> offers a fresh perspective on Blanchot's writings in general and on his dialogue with Hegel in particular. While staging innocence in its philosophical and literary dimensions <i>The Writing of Innocence</i> provides singular readings of works by Kierkegaard Agamben Derrida Nancy Camus Hugo and Kafka.</p>